Social Issue Docs

January 16, 2019

Astra Taylor's Question for the Ages, and Today: 'What Is Democracy?'

Documentary interviews Astra Taylor about her upcoming film What is Democracy?, a cinematic essay that asks that simple, yet profoundly complex, question. The film is essential viewing at this time because it both allows and forces us to grapple with the blindingly complex conundrums of governance.

December 4, 2018

Career Achievement Award: Julia Reichert

Julia Reichert, a three-time Academy Award nominee, has spent more than 40 years giving voice to women, children, the working class and the heartland

November 28, 2018

IDFA 2018: Inclusion Everywhere

The new era for the International Documentary Festival at Amsterdam (IDFA) has begun, and its theme is inclusion. New IDFA director Orwa Nyrabia ,

November 14, 2018

Courage Under Fire Award: Stephen Maing and the NYPD 12

This year’s Courage Under Fire Award recipients, director Stephen Maing (High Tech, Low Life) and the whistleblowers of the NYPD 12 that he documented in his exquisite doc Crime + Punishment, may not at first glance seem as likely honorees as, say, journalists facing down the daily guns and bombs of the war-torn Middle East.

October 18, 2018

On Her Shoulders: The Making of an Activist

Alexandria Bombach's On Her Shoulders opens with a scrum of photographers. Everyone is trying to get the shot. Many are going for selfies. They want

August 27, 2018

Young Americans: Steve James Looks at Racial Inequity through a High School Prism

Filmmaker Steve James earned the first Best Documentary Oscar nomination of his distinguished career earlier this year for Abacus: Small Enough to

August 22, 2018

Doc Star of the Month: Sergeant Edwin Raymond, Stephen Maing's Crime + Punishment

Though heroic activists have been pushing for change in policing across the country in recent years, they've mostly sprung from those communities

July 19, 2018

Doc Stars of the Month: Leah Smith and Joe Stramondo, Rachel Dretzin's 'Far From the Tree'

Leah Smith defiantly refuses to believe she needs to be "fixed." A media and entertainment advocate for the Center for Disability Rights, who holds

July 18, 2018

More Money, More Problems: 'Generation Wealth' Looks at the Dark Side of the Dream

"Show me the money!" was Cuba Gooding Jr.'s rallying cry in Jerry Maguire back in the '90s. Today everyone seems intent on showing you the money;

June 20, 2018

Watch and Share These Five Documentaries for World Refugee Day

June 20 th is World Refugee Day. It has been 18 years since the United Nations General Assembly declaration and 67 years since the 1951 Refugee

Social Issue Docs

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